THOUGH it was David Haslam who was retiring, after 40 years as principal flautist of Northern Sinfonia, it was the audience in the Westmorland Hall who received the present: a delightful account of Poulenc's flute sonata (in Lennox Berkeley's orchestration) surely one of the glories of 20th-century music. A performance directed by the soloist posed a particular challenge to an orchestra containing an unusual number of new young members, who had not yet had time to integrate completely into the team; but the ensemble was remarkably good, owing much to Bradley Creswick's firm leadership.

Haslam himself played as if he were still in his prime, with faultless virtuosity balanced by seductively mellow lyricism. Particularly striking was the way in which phrases were passed between himself and the orchestral flute, creating an apparently seamless melody. Even so, it is mainly for his achingly poignant Cantilena that he will live in our memories.

As conductor, Haslam encouraged the orchestra to give sparklng performances of Ravel's Couperin's Memorial and Saint-Sans' second symphony. Though markedly different, both have strong elements of dance, which had the conductor almost pirouetting on the rostrum, thus coaxing infectiously springing rhythms from his colleagues. Lakeland Sinfonia Concert Society should be thanked for programming these rarely heard works.

Creswick starred as soloist in Prokofiev's first violin-concerto. His inter-pretation emphasised the Russian atmosphere, as he overcame triumphantly all of the technical difficulties of earthy peasant-dances contrasted against the menace of wars; but these harsh sounds were vanquished by lyricism. His opening was magical, while the final return of the same theme on beautifully blended woodwinds, with the violin descanting into the stratosphere, was breath-takingly ethereal.